A veteran SAR volunteer's experiences in British Columbia
Today had operational, administrative and training components of SAR. Josh Andrew Koenig, an actor who starred in the TV Series Growing Pains, is missing in Vancouver. He is not only a high profile missing person, he is the son of a …
SAR Day 1: operational, administrative and training Read more »
My Facebook friend Lee uses the application Snowbook to track the number of days he goes skiing in a year. This has the effect of making me extremely jealous because he racks up an astounding number of days (60 this season …
In my few days at Whistler on standby for rescues on the Olympic course I’ve had a few opportunities to see the Whistler patrol members in action. A regular weekend on Whistler sees a number of critical injuries (where critical means life …
Recounting my part in rescuing an Olympic Athlete during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics
Two days of training at the men’s and women’s downhill skiing course, and one day to go before racers start practising. First, some terms of reference: there are just about 2400 blue-clad volunteers for the men’s and women’s downhill, and …
I have been given a list of do’s and don’ts about being a volunteer at the Olympics: do not ask for athlete/VIP autographs or pictures while on duty or in uniform do not bring family members to work do not …
(continued from Part 1) So, through hook or by crook, I’ve been trained to dangle from a helicopter as a rescue technique. How, may you ask, did that get me to the Olympics? A few years ago, Vancouver won the …
As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I learned to ski in the backcountry. I’ve been doing it for almost 20 years now. When I go backcountry skiing, in even the busiest areas, I’ll see about 20 people in a day. Not …
I used to order just one drink at Starbucks: a grande, 4-shot, long americano. I ordered it every day, twice a day, for about 4 years. Once in the morning and once in the evening. I know this drink. I …
I’m working on an article on the mechanisms by which snowshoers near Vancouver tend to get in trouble (injury and death). The summary is this: snowshoers tend to have slip-and-fall injuries on hard snow during periods of sunny weather either …